Idaho GOP congressional hopeful Raul Labrador plans to travel to his native Puerto Rico next week to raise money for his campaign against Democratic U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, the AP reports, with a $500-per-person reception next Thursday. More here at Eye on Boise

Thoughts?

Today is Election Day in a number of communities around Idaho, from Canyon County’s jail bond to various highway districts and other districts around the state, and it’s the first election for which Idaho’s new law will be in effect requiring voters to show photo I.D. at the polls. “Although this is a new step in voting procedures, it is not an onerous requirement,” said Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa. More here - Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

In two races in which the incumbents won handily this week - state Controller Donna Jones by 56.5 percent to challenger Todd Hatfield’s 43.5 percent, and Idaho Supreme Court Justice Roger Burdick by 58.4 percent to challenger John Bradbury’s 41.6 percent - a look at county-by-county results shows pockets of strong support for the challengers. Hatfield beat Jones in 9 of Idaho’s 44 counties, while Bradbury beat Burdick in 12, including taking 79 percent of the vote in Clearwater County and 75 percent in Nez Perce County./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

The Washington Post, in its “The Fix” political column today, calls Idaho 1st Congressional District GOP nominee Raul Labrador “the latest insurgent candidate to beat back the establishment and then be faced with joining forces with it,” and reports that Labrador is “going with wholesale changes to his staff and is looking at bringing in more established political team, including possibly some consultants favored by Washington.” It also notes Labrador’s endorsement yesterday by Mitt Romney - who yesterday endorsed Idaho’s entire top GOP slate, including Gov. Butch Otter, Sen. Mike Crapo, Rep. Mike Simpson and Labrador - and says that in an interview, Labrador told The Fix that his politics are similar to those of former Idaho Rep. Bill Sali, but his approach is different./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

Question: Will Labrador become an ‘establishment’ GOP candidate?

P. Tom Sullivan, a former Coeur d’Alene restaurant owner and now a businessman in Tetonia, Idaho, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for a chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo in the fall. The day before the election, Sullivan issued a press release acknowledging that he’s struggling to pay delinquent taxes, after a bank failure erased his business line of credit. “I’ve always been responsible and paid my debts, and I am paying this one,” Sullivan said. “I’m working out of it, like a lot of people.”

Sullivan took 74.6 percent of the vote in the primary, to 25.4 percent for William Bryk, a lawyer from Brooklyn, N.Y. who’s never been to Idaho, but who filed for the seat to ensure Crapo had opposition. Six years ago, Crapo made history when he ran unopposed, but for a write-in challenger, for his second term in the Senate./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

Question: Why did the guy from Brooklyn get 25 percent of the vote?

The one county whose election results took the longest to determine - the same county where a prominent longtime state senator, Gary Schroeder, was defeated by his GOP primary challenger - had an 11 p.m. machine malfunction that led to a technician driving from Kootenai County to Moscow to try to fix the problem without success, followed by carting the remaining Latah County ballots off to another county for counting, then returning them to merge the results. The whole thing didn’t wrap up ‘til 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. The ballot-counting machine was only three years old./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell, the former elk rancher and militia movement backer whose campaign trademark this year was a giant inflatable T-Rex he towed behind his brightly decorated campaign RV, took 26 percent of the vote to incumbent Gov. Butch Otter’s 54.6 percent in the primary, with the remaining challengers in single digits. But in two counties, Rammell beat Otter: Benewah and Idaho counties, while in Boundary County, Otter edged Rammell by just two votes. In Idaho County, Otter got just 40 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Rammell; in Boundary County, both were at 43 percent; and in Benewah County, Rammell made his best showing, winning the GOP primary for governor with 57 percent of the vote, while Otter drew just 34 percent.

So is Benewah County T-Rex country? That’s one possible interpretation. Another: Very few people voted. Rammell got 603 votes there, while Otter had just 358./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

Lucas Baumbach, the Boise Republican legislative candidate who created the widely circulated video mash-up juxtaposing phrases from speeches by Vaughn Ward and Barack Obama, calls himself a “RINO hunter” and a “Tea Party activist” and is blunt about why he created the mash-up: Because he supported Raul Labrador over Ward. His video mash-up gives the impression that Ward, in his announcement speech in the Idaho Capitol on Jan. 26th, parroted Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention speech word-for-word, though that’s not exactly the case./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

1st District GOP congressional nominee Raul Labrador, asked by Eye on Boise about the impact of the video mash-up of speeches by opponent Vaughn Ward and Barack Obama that circulated widely online for the last few days before the election and was featured on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on election night, said, “I think it was just the icing on the cake, I don’t think that it made the difference.” Labrador noted that the earliest results that came in, which consisted of absentee votes from Ada and Canyon counties that could have been cast weeks ago, showed him ahead./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

Also:
Ward: ‘I learned a great deal from this experience’
Labrador: Ward has served honorably
Otter at GOP unity rally: ‘Now we are one team’

Here’s a link to the final, unofficial statewide results from the Secretary of State. Of interest: Six legislative incumbents lost to their challengers in the GOP primary: Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake; Sen. Lee Heinrich, R-Cascade; Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa; Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian, who lost to the man he replaced, former Rep. John Vander Woude; Sen. Charles Coiner, R-Twin Falls; and longtime Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, the chairman of the Senate Resources Committee who was defeated by Tea Party candidate Gresham Dale Bouma./Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

State Rep. Raul Labrador issued this statement this morning after his upset victory late last night in the GOP primary for the 1st CD. Unofficial final results show Labrador winning with 47.6 percent of the vote to 38.9 percent for Vaughn Ward. “I’ve received a call of congratulations from Mr. Ward, and I appreciate his graciousness,” Labrador said. “I want to acknowledge his service to this nation and his hard work as a candidate.”/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

Question: Why’d he win? And why did Ward win in Kootenai County?

Idaho state Rep. Ken Roberts announced this morning that he’s withdrawing from the 1st District congressional race, in which he was vying for the GOP nomination for a chance to challenge 1st District Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick. Roberts cited “an unexpected health issue,” and also hinted that another “conservative” candidate might be getting into the race to replace him, saying he’s heard from two who have a “strong interest.” “I now feel I can responsibly withdraw from the campaign, knowing that one of them will continue to defend our cherished principles,” Roberts said in a statement.

Already in the GOP race is Vaughn Ward, an Iraq war veteran who’s been campaigning hard and who had out-raised Roberts, as of the last campaign finance report, by more than four times. Ward noted that yesterday, he was endorsed by the American Conservative Union./Betsy Z. Russell, S-R, more here

Question: What do you think is at stake in the race for North Idaho’s congressional seat in 2010?

Vaughn Ward, the decorated Iraq war veteran and former McCain-Palin campaign official, and Ken Roberts, the Idaho House majority caucus chairman from Donnelly, are announcing dueling endorsements in their face-off for a shot at challenging 1st District Congressman Walt Minnick, with Ward announcing the endorsement of Kootenai County GOP Chairman Brad Corkill, and Roberts the endorsement of state Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, the 29th Idaho lawmaker to endorse Roberts/More here at Eye on Boise

Question: Whose endorsement makes a difference to you?

Here’s Gov. Butch Otter’s response to the news that Idaho Democrats have launched a candidate recruitment committee aimed mainly at the 2010 governor’s race. “Well, you know, I applaud them,” he said. But, he added, “It would be unfortunate if they had to talk somebody into doing it, because these things are tough enough when you do it and you’ve got fire in your belly.” Said Otter, “I’ll tell you we’ve got a committee that is working on candidate recruitment as well - not for the office of governor, I can assure you - but candidate recruitment where we think we can marshal our resources and make a difference.” Doesn’t that little aside of his there sound like a hint? Sounds like Otter’s running. The six lesser-known candidates who already are out campaigning have filed their preliminary paperwork with the state to become candidates and begin raising campaign money. Otter’s paperwork, first filed in 2004, carries over. “I filed that paperwork and I’m raising money,” he said. More here at Eye on Boise

Question: Should Gov. Butch Otter run for a second term? Why or why not?

The Idaho Democratic Party is launching a “special candidate recruitment committee for the 2010 elections,” at a time when, with the 2010 primary 10 months away, the party has had no major candidate step forward to challenge sitting GOP Gov. Butch Otter. State party Chairman Keith Roark said the committee will be headed by former U.S. Attorney for Idaho Betty Richardson. “Betty did an outstanding job with candidate recruitment when she led the Ada County Democrats.  Now she will bring those skills to bear at the state level,” Roark said; you can read the party’s full announcement here. Richardson also was a Democratic candidate for Congress in 2002; she’s now a Boise attorney. More here at Eye on Boise

Question: Who could the Dems put forward?

When Ron “Pete” Peterson announced his candidacy for governor today at a Boise bikini bar, there wasn’t exactly a crowd on hand, but the few people there were mostly supportive. “I think it’s wonderful,” said a dancer named Tawni, who slipped off her 8-inch-high stilettos when Peterson marveled at her height, and suddenly became 8 inches shorter. “It’s out here where the normal people would come.”  - Betsy Z. Russell, Eye on Boise - more here

Question: Who do you think should run for governor of Idaho?

Now that we’re starting the 43rd week before the next Idaho primary election - yep, it’s way off on May 25, 2010 - the candidates for governor have begun emerging. Six already have filed preliminary paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office (you can read about them all here in my Sunday column in Handle Extra). Today is the day that one of them, 58-year-old Ron “Pete” Peterson, an amateur comedian and retired state employee, will announce his gubernatorial candidacy at a Boise bikini bar, the “Torch 2.” Why there? “Why not?” he asks. “Like everything else in my campaign, it sets me apart.”

So does his arrest record. Back in the ‘70s, he was arrested and convicted for “defrauding an innkeeper” after leaving the Red Lion Riverside without paying for a meal (“I was kind of drunk that night,” he said) and, also in the ‘70s, there was a disturbing-the-peace conviction related to his involuntary commitment to State Hospital South at Blackfoot for four months for “being a danger to myself and/or others.” “I’m a manic-depressive,” Peterson explained. “The way I always phrase it, is they took advantage of the fact that I was crazy to commit me.” You can read more here at Eye on Boise.

Question: If you’re running for governor, does it help to be crazy?